Statement from the Save Prentice Coalition

The Save Prentice Coalition issued the following statement in response to today’s ruling by Judge Neil Cohen.

“We welcome the outcome of today’s hearing, which keeps in place a stay preventing harm to historic Prentice Women’s Hospital and provides an opportunity to amend our pleadings within 30 days. We appreciate the care with which Judge Cohen is considering this case.

“The City does not dispute that Prentice is architecturally worthy of landmark status. Indeed, the Landmarks Commission made a unanimous finding to that effect before rescinding the designation in a pre-orchestrated hearing. In court today, Judge Cohen called that process into question and noted that the public notice and swiftness of the proceedings were ‘arbitrary’ and ‘nontransparent.’ We agree.

“Despite Northwestern’s refusal to consider other options, a series of recent proposals shows that reusing Prentice would advance Chicago’s economy and its leadership in biomedical research. On January 3, a group of former City officials, experts and architects unveiled a series of reuse alternatives for Prentice. Reusing Prentice as a support facility for adjacent medical research would deliver significantly greater economic benefits than Northwestern’s current proposal – including an additional 600 temporary jobs, 980 permanent jobs and $1.1 million in annual tax revenues. These reuse alternatives and economic figures can be viewed and considered at www.saveprentice2013.wordpress.com.

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The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit organization, works to save America’s historic places. PreservationNation.org